Movable siphon weir



Sept. 12, 1939. CICIN 2,172,697

MOVABLE S IPHON WEIR Filed May 18, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 12, 1939.l P. ICI-N MOVABLE SIPHON WEIR Filed May 18, 1937 4 Sheets-Shea?I 2 Sept. 12, 1939.

P. clclN 2,172,697

MOVABLE SIPHON WEIR Filed May 18, 1937l 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Sept. 12, 1939. l

. P. CICIN MOVABLE sIPHoN wEIR Filed May 18, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet '4 Patented Sept. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT 'OFFlCE Application May 18, 1937, Serial No. 143,267 In Austria May 23, 1936 10 Claims.

My invention relates to weirs, and more particularly movable Siphon weirs.

Movable weir closures combined with a siphon are known. In the known weir constructions there is mounted upon the closing body, especially if this is a roller, but also if it iS a sluice, a Siphon designed like the siphons employed hitherto in connection with stationary weirs. Constructions of this kind suffer, however, from Several drawbacks to which I will refer in detail hereinafter. Those drawbacks are overcome by the present invention which -consists chie-y in an improved construction of the Siphon closure, the improvement residing, on the one hand, in this that the material employed in this construction is'utilised practically completely, and, on the other hand, in this that the closure shall be applicable to such relations between the clear Width and the damming height which cannot be responded to under the Same conditions with the known types of closures.

The objects in view are attained, according to the present invention, in the following manner: First of all, concerning the practically complete utilisation of the material in static respect, the outer and the inner wall of the Siphon which extend across the entire width of the weir aperture are used to form the supporting structure. Furthermore, 'the Siphon is given the moment of inertia requisite for the supporting capacity by a particularly great extent in the direction of 'the greatest load, viz. in approximately horizontal direction. vThe inner wall of the Siphon lextends on the take-in 'side' preferably to Ythe Weir Sill and is joined at its other end to the inner wall of the delivery side of the Siphon.

In order to make the two Siphon walls which extend across the entire length of the Weir, vbut are separated from one another, a uniform Supporting structure with respect to the bending stress and to the stress due to transversely acting forces, a plurality of siphons 'separated from one another by means of coupled transverse walls are disposed side- 4by side across the entire length of the weir. The shearing 'forces existing or arising between the two walls are absorbed in that the double transverse walls andthe parts of the inner and the outer Siphon wall lying between said transverse walls are transformed into Stiff boxlike Structures closed on all sides'by the insertion of transverse connecting members. Said boxes prevent, in the case of bending of the closing body, Shifting of the two Siphon walls relatively to one another by reason of their torsion Stiffness. Because of the curved. or wound shape of the said boxes the transmission of the shearing forces from the one Siphon wall to the other Siphon wall is facilitated, .in that the torsion moments then arising compensate one another y at least partly within the boxes. 5

Further means for obviating the drawbacks` from which the prior Weir closures above referred to Suffer in hydraulic respect are the following which at the same time vincrease the efficiency and the amount of water delivered. The de- 'il' livery end oi the Siphon is so arranged as to be protected by the damming shield, or by the inner wall of the Siphon on the head-water side of the same. The lower bounding plane of the delivery end forms with the horizontal planean acute an- 515 gle rising in the direction to the tail-water, and the lowermost edge of Said. end of the Siphon lies either in the same height with, or higher than, the lower edge of the closing body. Be- A sides, the Weir sill is at that place where the 20 closing body contacts with it located lower than the other portion of the channel floor by so much, by providing for a gradual transition passage, that thereby a water basin is formed and the delivery end of the Siphon is under all circum- 525 stances fully immersed and, may be, where required, even if there should be no tail-Water dip, into Said basin, so that entrance of air on the tail-water sideinto the Siphon will be completely prevented.

Because of the arrangement and combination of parts just stated, any danger of the jet of Water rushing through the Weir closure bouncing onto the Siphon is obviated, and the lower location of the floor entails, besides, the further advantages that at the place of contact between the oor and the closing body not only reliable immersion of the delivery end of `the Siphon into the water is attained, but that, because of the increase of the total height of the closingv body, considerably larger spans of Support can be over come than is possible with any other closure construction.

Another object of this invention is the increase of the output of the Siphon by the utilisation of 45 the kinetic energy of the water Streaming from the Siphon into the basin, this energy producing in the known Weir closure constructions no useful effect at all. I attain this further effect as follows: 550

The basin is so arranged rand so shaped that the headwater portion of its oor forms, with respect to the direction and the curvature, a continuous and nearly direct transition to the inner wall of the discharge end of `the Siphon, 5.5

Whereas the adjacent tail-water portion of the basin floor effects, by means of its particular shape, the continuous and gradual conduction of the discharge jet to the sole of the channel. Since -by said conguration the energy of flow of the discharge jet is nearly completely maintained, especially in the head-water portion of the basin, and since the tail-water is displaced from the place of discharge of the outflow-bend, the outiiow takes place under a higher head than corresponds with the difference -between the ,levels of the head-water and the tail-water, and

ln consequence the outflow takes place with an increased speed so that the Siphon delivers as much more water as corresponds to the increase of the speed, and as would be delivered by a Siphon of the known design having the Same size, it is true, but being not combined with a basin of the above described improved design. The speed-increasing effect can be still more increased, even to a considerable degree, if the weir sill and the discharge bend of the Siphon are lowered, in accordance with the present invention, relatively to the normal channel sole, since thereby the additional head obtained by the lower position of said sill will also be utilised.

My invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example in the accompanying drawings, but in order to make the invention completely clear I have represented also lthe known combination of a roller weir and a Siphon as above referred to. In the drawings Figs. 1 and 2 are transverse sections through said known combination, the roller weir and the Siphon being shown in two different positions. Figure 3 is a transverse section through a combined roller Weir Siphon embodying my invention. Figure 3a iS a section in the plane A-A of Fig. 3, and Figure 3b is a section in the plane B-B of Fig. 3. Figure 4 is a front-View of the combination shown in Fig. 3 as seen from the head-water. Figure 5 is a perspective representation of a portion lying between two siphons; and Figures 6, 7 and 8 are three views similar to Fig. 3, showing three modifications. Figure 9 is an enlarged detail vertical cross sectional view of the lower portions of the inner wall where they join the sole beam.

In Figs. 1 and 2, f denotes the closing roller over which is placed a hood g; opposite ,the lower portion of said hood, below the roller, is a wall i which constitutes, together with the opposite portion of the hood, the discharge end Us of the Siphon. a denotes the weir sill, and k a basin located therebehind. The discharge end of the Siphon extends downwardly below the plane of the sill a. into the water contained in the basin k. The Siphon is, therefore, able to operate also if there Should be no tail-water. With this construction the Siphon-hood g does not constitute a member able to increase Substantially the supporting capacity of the roller` f.

This known construction suffers, furthermore, from the following drawbacks: The hood g re,.- quires an amount of material which must be considered as being considerable in proportion to the amount of material required for the roller, without presenting the possibility of being utilised in a degree worth mentioning for the supporting capacity of the roller. S denotes a damming shield and D the so-called sole-beam which contacts with the sill a when the roller is in its closure position, as in Fig. l. The lowermost portion of the discharge end` of the Siphon which extends below the plane of contact between said beam and the sill a exerts a very unfavorable action upon the flow of the water leaving the Siphon, especially in the case of roller closures, but also in the case of sluice and segment-like closures in that on the lifting of the roller f the jet of water rushing from the headwater to the tail-water Strikes the lower portion or end of the walls g and i, as is indicated in Fig. 2. This gives rise to strong oscillations, and if there is ice in the water, Said portions or ends will be damaged. This detrimental effect is, in fact, still further increased in that the space between the inner surface of the Siphon wall i, the damming Shield S, and the bounding lower portion of the roller f is cut olf from the outer air by the jet of water passing therethrough, said space being, thus, subject to a strong sucking action, the consequences of which (oscillations and increase of the necessary lifting power) cannot be completely eliminated by ventilation apertures in the lower bounding wall. Also the passage gap Aw (Fig. 2) being formed between the sole or sill a and the beam D as the roller is being lifted iS not able to Supply an amount of water corresponding to its size, Since, as appears from Fig. 2, the lower discharge end Ua of the Siphon results in a substantially narrower gap Aw which is, however, important for the discharge.

According to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, more especially, however, Fig. 5, the above-mentioned box-shaped structure is formed by two lateral boundary walls of the Siphon and the inner and the outer wall of the supporting body. This body consists of the S-shaped Siphon with its outer wall Wa and the inner wall Wi. This latter wall is elongated downwardly at S (Fig. 3) to the Sill b, and the wall Wi forms a closed tubular body, as Shown. 'Ihe piece V carries the sole-beam D. Between the walls Wa and W1 are inserted properly spaced from one another the transverse walls Q (Fig. 4)

which are bent towards one another on the headi water side So as to constitute a Sort of edges (Fig. 3a.), the object of which is to cause the water to flow into the siphons with the Smallest loss of kinetic energy possible.

Between the double transverse walls Q are provided transverse connections ql qs, the first of which (q1) is arranged directly at the intake of the Siphon, whereas the last of them (q) constitutes the lower closure of the box. These two connections (q1 and qs) are especially important to attain the effect desired in that by them the torsion stiffness of the entire box is obtained, whereas the other connections (q2-ql) take up only local forces and they prevent the box walls Surrounding them from being tilted by the shearing forces. Fig. 3b shows one of said transverse connections together with the adjacent portions of the box walls.

The discharge end Us o-f the Siphon (Fig. 3)

which is provided with an outlet or discharge mouth n is located in close proximity to the dam.- ming Shield S and is protected by it. The lowest point of the inner wall at the discharge end lies higher than the lower edge of the sole beam by as much as is indicated by Ab, whereas the plane n of the discharge end of the Siphon forms, with the horizontal plane, an acute angle a rising in the direction to the tail-water. The sole beam D Sits on the weir sill b which lies lower with respect to the river or channel sole a by as much as is indicated by Ah. The transition from the sole a to the sill b is Slightly inclined in a straight line or may be a Slightly curved 'plane c, the relations being such that the lowered Weir Sill behaves as if the closing body would rest upon the normal sole, especially in such a manner that on the lifting of the roller an unhampered passage below it takes place. rIhe measure Ah (Fig. 3) is so chosen that there is temporarily no tailwater at all; the discharge end of the siphon, therefore, completely dips into the basin k which lies lower than the Weir sill b.

The two walls Wa and Wi are connected up to the end disks E which are provided in known manner with the circular sets of teeth Z which mesh with racks T arranged as usual in niches in the masonry at the sides of the Closure K indicates a means for moving the roller.

In the further embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6 the siphon is so shaped as to be able to serve as carrying body for a siphon roller having a large supporting width, in which case the siphon is designed somewhat like a rather broadened S especially in horizontal direction in order to correspond with the requisite greater moment of inertia. This gure shows also the particular conguration of the basin 7c in accordance with the present invention. It is to be seen from the jet indicated in this iigure by a dotted line accompanied by an arrow indicating the direction of flow of the jet, or of the covering roller located, perhaps, over it respectively, that there is a negative head in the direction of the flow which corresponds with the re-formation of kinetic energy into static energy. The lower edge of the inner wall W1 of the outflow bend is arranged at the Weir sill as near as possible to the same, and the wall of the bend nds a uniform and nearly direct continuation in the adjoining part of the basin bottom, which is designed in this range with the same radius of curvature r as is the outow bend itself. In the further course of the gradually rising bottom of the basin the requirements as to a uniform guidance of the jet are considered.

Figs. 7 and 8 show the conguration of a Siphon designed as supporting body in connection with a sluice weir. Also in this case the supporting structure consists of the two siphon walls Wa and Wi and the two ends of the inner wall Wi are connected with one another by means of the longitudinal girder V so as to form a closed hollow cylinder. In Fig. 8 the intake of the siphon is enlarged down to the weir sill in order to render the ow of the water into the Siphon as free as possible from loss. Also in this example the basin is shaped in accordance with this invention, in that the headwater portion thereof has the same curvature 1' as has the adjoining inner wall of the delivery bend. Finally, Fig. '7 shows how the Weir gangway G is arranged directly upon the closing body and is supported on the same. The two siphon walls are connected un 'to the end frames E at the ends of their supporting structure, and said frames transmit the bearing forces to the running rolls R and the running rails L.

I claim:

1. In a movable siphon Weir, in combination with the closing body, a supporting structure therefor comprising an outer and inner wall in spaced relationship of a shape to form together a siphon and extending across the enire width of the weir, the two elongated ends of said inner lVall being connected to form a closed tubular ody.

2. In a movable siphon weir, in combination with the closing body, a supporting structure therefor, comprising an outer and inner wall in spaced relationship of a shape to form together a siphon and extending across the entire width of the Weir, and spaced double partition walls arranged at intervals dividing said siphon into separate siphon sections.

3. The combination as specified in claim 2, including transverse connecting members between said spaced double partition walls, the whole being formed into a stili box-like structure closed on all sides.

4. The combination as specied in claim 2, in which the ends of each two partition walls at`the intake side of the siphons are bent toward one another so as to form together a Wedge-like portion.

5. In combination with a channel sole and a weir sill, a movable siphon weir comprising a closing body and a supporting structure composed of an outer and inner wall in spaced relationship and of a shape to form together a siphon and extending across the entire width of the weir, the weir sill having a lower position than the channel sole thereby forming a basin.

6. The combination as specified in claim 5, in which intermediate the channel sole and the weir sill there is provided a gradual grade.

7. In combination with a channel sole and a weir sill, a movable siphon weir comprising a closing body and a supporting structure composed of an outer and inner wall extending across the entire width of the Weir in spaced relationship and of a shape to form together a siphon, the weir sill being disposed below the plane of the chanel sole and forming a basin having a curvature of substantially the same radius as that of the curvature of the outow end of said siphon,

the head-water portion of said basin thus forming in the closure position of said closing body a direct continuation of the inner wall at the outflow end of the siphon, the other portion of said basin being designed so as to constitute for the outowing jet of water a gradual and continuous by-pass to the normal channel sole thereby utilizing the kinetic energy of the outflowing jet for the increase of the normal head.

8. A movable weir of the class described, comprising, adapted to cooperate with a weir sill, means at the ends of the body for adjusting the angular relation of said body about its longitudinal axis to control the passage of water over said sill, said body including outer and inner wall members arranged in spaced relationship and of a, shape to form together a siphon extending throughout the entire length of the weir, said inner wallincluding a relatively eccentric damming shield portion having a sole beam. at its lower edge for engaging the sill, and the lower edge of the outer wall which defines the upper edge of the outlet end of the siphon, terminating in a plane above said wall beam.

9. The combination specied in claim 8 wherein the outlet end of the siphon is disposed directly behind the part of the inner wall adjoining the sole beam, and the said outlet end of the siphon lies in a plane forming an acute angle relative to a horizontal plane intersecting the sole beam whereby the said outlet end of the Siphon is disposed wholly above the sole beam.

10. The combination set forth in claim 8 wherein the inner Siphon wall has two end portions meeting the wall beam at an acute angle, and the end of the outer siphon wall which forms a part of the siphon outlet is disposed in a higher plane than the sole beam.

PAUL CICIN.

in combination, an elongated bodyi 

